British journalists sentenced over phone hacking

Former News of the World editor, Andy Coulson, has been jailed for 18 months for conspiracy to hack phones, the BBC reports.

The 46-year-old, who went on to become director of communications for Prime Minister David Cameron, was found guilty at the Old Bailey last week.

He was one of four former NoW journalists to be sentenced.

Ex- reporter Glenn Mulcaire, the former private investigator tasked with hacking, was given a six-month suspended sentence.

Former chief reporter Neville Thurlbeck and ex-news editor Greg Miskiw were jailed for six months, while former reporter James Weatherup was given a four-month suspended sentence.

Five defendants in the hacking trial, including former News International chief Rebekah Brooks, were cleared of all charges last week.

Coulson, of Charing in Kent, had denied the charges against him but was found guilty of plotting to intercept voicemails between 2000 and 2006.

Sentencing the five men, the judge, Mr. Justice Saunders, said it was not his job to pass judgment on the relationship between the police, press and the government. This had been the job of the Leveson Inquiry, he said.

What was relevant, he said, was the amount of hacking and the period over which it occurred.